The End of a Bad Day
by Faith Withers
Summary: At the end of a bad case, Reid has a nightmare. It's up to Morgan to make it better. Reid/Morgan slash.


**Disclaimer: I don't own. But I do like to play.**

**AN:** My last story didn't work out, so in spite of that I decided to write another Reid/Morgan story. I hope people read and enjoy and share their feedback with me. For some reason it just played out in my head and I have no doubts with this one- no doubts at all.

Reid stood there. He was covered in blood- blood that was not even his. He had seen it happen. Now his brown eyes were bugged open. He just stood there, unmoving, covered in blood. The young man was shivering- more like quivering- from the sight. His breaths were shallow. His legs felt like Jell-O. He just wanted to go home.

Today had to have been one of the worst days of his life. He had seen two people blow up. It had been a controlled explosion- just enough for each body to explode, the pieces and blood falling down around Reid. He had closed his eyes, but he saw it all the same. They were just small explosions. The room was still filled with smoke. And Reid was still covered in blood- but it was not **his** blood.

And he was tied up.

And he wanted to go home.

And he wanted to throw up.

"Reid!" a faraway voice asked, questioning if Reid was, in fact, in this Hellhole.

Yes, yes he was.

But he could not say anything.

The gag around his mouth was too tight.

Instead he allowed the tears to spring from his eyes.

"Reid!"

There was that voice again.

It sounded like Morgan.

Morgan…

It was then that Reid whimpered. He stomped his feet. He lifted both his feet up and stomped them down, still tied tightly to the wooden post of the basement. He cried out through the gag. Over and over again, he cried out. The tears were still coming. Whenever he closed his eyes he could see it- see the unsub and another victim explode from the inside out.

"Catch him," Hotch ordered in a serious monotone.

Reid felt the ropes loosen. He fell himself falling out of the restraints- falling forward, falling into Morgan. The young man barely noticed what was going on. All he knew was that he was safe. All he could recognize were the big strong arms of Derek Morgan wrapping themselves around him to soothe him. Morgan just combed his fingers through Reid's long hair and whispered repeatedly that it would be all right, that it was okay now. Reid buried his face in Morgan's chest, keeping his eyes open and watching the green fabric ripple. He did not want to close his eyes. He did not want to see the explosions anymore and watch various body parts and blood fling back at the ground.

Later that night, Reid slept in Morgan's bed. A protective arm had wrapped around Reid, pulling him closer into deep warmth. Morgan had whispered for Reid to get some sleep, but all Reid could do was stare straight ahead, not wanting to close his eyes from what he saw. So he just stared straight ahead. That was, until his eyelids drooped and the man became so tired that he could no longer hold back sleep. The last thing Reid remembered was Morgan tugging Reid closer to him into a protective hold.

At some point in the night Reid heard somebody scream, "Get it out of me! Get it out of me!"

Somebody- most likely Morgan- shook Reid by the shoulders, hard.

"Hey, hey, c'mon, wake up!" Reid heard Morgan's worried voice cry.

"Get it out of me!" somebody cried.

When Reid's eyes finally opened he realized it had been him screaming. Morgan sat on the edge of the bed with his legs curled under him, leaning forward with a hand on Reid's right shoulder. He looked worried with his eyebrows knit together. Reid blinked a few times. He had had a nightmare about earlier. And now, again, tears were threatening his eyes. Morgan tugged the young genius close into a hug.

Reid felt uncomfortable with Morgan fussing over him, so he pulled away. He felt helpless. And he wiped the oncoming tears from his eyes. The man felt stupid just sitting here, watching someone fuss over him like a baby. Reid looked down at his hands. He felt stupid sitting here, having nightmares about a case.

"Listen, I dunno what happened down there-"

"But you want me to talk to you," Reid finished for Morgan as he raised a brow at the man.

Morgan scooted closer. "Baby boy, I know how this sounds, but you gotta talk to somebody. Might as well be me."

Reid took a deep breath. There was a silence for a little while. It seemed like such a long time, but when Morgan checked the clock next to the bed he realized it had only been three minutes. Reid would succumb, however. He would tell Morgan everything. Morgan had faith in that. He just had to wait a few more minutes. But Reid just picked up the covers and threw himself underneath him. He patted his pillow and looked back at Morgan as if to say good night.

"Oh, no. Sorry, man, you're not getting off that easily," Morgan shook his head. But he sighed and got under the covers himself. This time he faced away from Reid, waiting to see what he would do. When Reid made no movement to cuddle Morgan, the older agent knew Reid would be hard to crack. But Morgan also knew that if he gave Reid another reason to talk about it, then maybe he would. So Morgan laid down on his pillow and asked, "Should I turn off the lights?"

"It wouldn't matter. I only see it when I close my eyes," Reid answered, facing the window that was covered by white plastic blinds.

Morgan rolled over and slipped his arm around Reid's waist, saying, "This being…"

"The visage of Clarence inserting bombs into his victims and **himself** through surgery… Derek, it's horrible," Reid told him.

"Roll over," Morgan said.

"What, why?" Reid asked incredulously.

Morgan breathed out a grin. "I want to look into those beautiful brown eyes."

So Reid rolled over. Morgan touched his forehead to Reid's. Their noses touched. Their eyes were barely a centimeter away.

Reid sent Morgan a grin as if to ask, "What the hell are we doing?"

And Morgan answered in a low voice, "If you ever have any nightmares you know I'm right here, right? I'm in the same bed in the same room in the same apartment. I won't let anything bad happen to you or some surgeon put bombs in you. I won't let it happen. Now I want you to close your eyes and every time you see that surgeon I want you to pretend I'm kicking his ass. **You** control what goes on in your head. Now go to bed."

Reid smiled. There was no use arguing with Morgan. Plus, what if he was right? So Morgan and Reid fell asleep, so close their lips almost touched. And Reid didn't have any more nightmares because he knew Morgan was taking care of it.


End file.
